Rowlett City Councilmember Debra Shinder

Rowlett City Council disbands its DEI commission

CAROLINE SAVOIE | Contributing Writer
CaroSavoWrites@gmail.com

A 4-3 vote by the Rowlett City Council on May 7 has killed the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission. The move started in February when a council subcommittee talked with the commission about changing its name to something less “controversial.” Instead, the council decided to ax the commission altogether.
City Councilmember Debra Shinder made a motion to delete the DEIC from the city’s handbook while discussing a resolution to adopt the Boards and Commissions Handbook.

But, said Kellie McKee, an attorney and 18-year resident of Rowlett, “This was never about the handbook.”

Shinder disagreed: “It was not a pretext to change or abolish the board,” she said during the meeting.

“The vote on this amendment is not about supporting or not supporting the ideas and the ideals of diversity and inclusion,” Shinder said. “It’s not about whether the city should serve the members of its diverse population equally. Of course, we should, and we must.

“It’s not about whether we should make all of our citizens feel included in all of our city programs and events. Of course, we should, and we will,” Shinder continued.

“It’s not about whether we should issue proclamations recognizing different groups or not hold events celebrating our unique cultures and ethnicities and identities.

It’s about how we go about doing that as we move forward.”

The commission was created in 2018 and was originally called the Diversity and Inclusion Commission, then the commission added the word “equity” without a formal council vote.

Rowlett City Councilmember Jeff Winget

In February, the council subcommittee proposed changing its legal name from “Diversity Commission” to other names that do not include the word “equity,” and one council member, Jonathan Reaves, said the connotation of the board’s name is a “trigger word.” He said it carries a partisan connotation, even though “diversity is a strength.”

Shinder said she wanted talks with the DEIC to be collaborative and asked its members to come up with a new name. She noted later, however, that the committees could not come to an agreement. She said boards and commissions have to respect the City Council’s authority, and that has not been done.

Susan Urrutia, chair of the former DEIC who has a gay child, said the commission fought for its name. “We continued to fight to let them know what all the words meant,” she said. “I think they took resistance as refusal to compromise.”

Reaves, who supported the motion to disband the DEIC, said the board was created to “engage our diverse population and to enhance the community by celebrating and fostering mutual respect and, among other things, to enrich the vibrant culture of our city.

“While there’s some folks on this commission that have hearts of gold, who I believe are fulfilling the call to enrich our vital culture, unfortunately, there have been some that I think have not shown the mutual respect and fairness that is required of a city board or commission,” he said in the meeting.

Reaves said he spoke with some people on the commission, and Urrutia and McKee said they were the two people he spoke to in an hour-long conversation. Reaves said he was being manipulated through flattery, threats and bribery.

“I was warned of impending protests that could be messy if the council did not acquiesce,” he said. “I was bribed that some of my critics would be silent, that they would just be quiet towards me if I went along with what they wanted to do.”

But Urrutia said, “We thought we left the meeting on a productive note. We told him that he is in a position to be a transformational leader, that he could help bridge the gap in understanding between us and the council.

“He turned around and called that manipulation through flattery.”

McKee said she has a friend who posts anti-Reaves content on her social media. She said she told Reaves that if he helped save the DEIC, her friend would probably start to give him the benefit of the doubt and rethink her position on him. “He called that ‘silencing his critics,’” she said.

And as for the threats he was referencing, Urrutia said Reaves again twisted her words.

“I pointed out that trying to prevent Pride recognition by shutting down the commission would not prevent Pride from happening,” she said. “It could result in a peaceful protest. I told him that last year, the protest was met with threats of violence from the opposition, so that could happen again this year.”

McKee said Urrutia’s statements weren’t said in a threatening manner.

“The bottom line is that disbanding the commission was their plan all along,” Urrutia said.

She provided a picture of a text message between Reaves and a Rowlett resident that surfaced in a public records inquiry. It’s dated Feb. 19, the day of the first handbook work session. The resident asks if Reaves would be in favor of disbanding the commission, and he said he would be in favor. The resident responded, “That makes three,” alluding to the fact that Reaves was the third council member who was in favor of disbanding the commission.

“We had a strong suspicion that this was the first step to disband,” Urrutia said. “After seeing that text, we dug in really hard to keep the commission. Someone from city staff even told me that funding for our events was in danger.”

Councilmembers Jeff Winget and Elise Bowers and Rowlett Mayor Blake Margolis pushed back on the motion to disband the commission. Winget called the motion a “chainsaw approach,” and Bowers said she was caught off guard by the motion. Bowers has previously stated that she thinks DEIC events are important for the community.

McKee said the commission put on events for MLK Day and Juneteenth, proposed proclamations each month and provided a sensory tent at city events for people with neurodivergence. She said if she and Urrutia are successful in their efforts to start a nonprofit, those events will continue.

“We’ll see if the council is willing to work with us,” McKee said. “Everyone on the commission is trying to keep these initiatives going.”

Urrutia said families and individuals who need support from their community to live openly, especially those in the LGBTQ community, will suffer the most from the disbanding. McKee said the 2023 Pride event had more than 350 attendees, so it’s not like there aren’t any LGBTQ people or allies in Rowlett.

“It’s too late to get a permit to do Pride if it’s not a city-sponsored event,” Urrutia said. “I think that was done on purpose. This was all part of the plan.”